| Wednesday, May 11, 2022 |
| 'Poetry is for everyone': Mississippi Poet Laureate Catherine Pierce wants to share the joy of writing | |
 | Catherine Pierce tries to begin each of her classes with a question. Something like, but not specifically: "Would you rather be a shepherd spy -- a shepherd who is also a spy, not to be confused with shepherd's pie -- or a super agent who is a dog but is really bad at math?" This particular question came from Pierce's son, Sam. She jotted it down several years ago, along with other interesting questions he's asked through the years, and posed it to her intermediate poetry students at Mississippi State University at the beginning of a recent class. "My questions get weirder and weirder. Today was like the weirdest one yet," she said. "To their great credit, they just rolled with it." The creative spirit Pierce brings to the classroom also serves her well while writing. She's Mississippi's current poet laureate and co-director of the creative writing program at MSU, where she tries to share her knowledge and love of poetry with others. "I think poems work best when they come from a place of openness and willingness to try things as opposed to having to feel like 'I have to do exactly this, and if I don't do it exactly this way, then it's not going to be any good,'" Pierce said. She feels poets should be "aware of and open to the joys and pleasures of language." "Ultimately, writing should be a pleasure in some way," Pierce said. In April 2021, Pierce was named Mississippi's poet laureate. In that honorary position, she'll serve as an ambassador for poetry and the literary arts in the state through 2025. "Poetry is for everyone" serves as a mission statement of sorts for her work. |
| MSU-Meridian recognizes outstanding graduates | |
 | Five graduates at Mississippi State University-Meridian are being recognized as outstanding students for the 2022 spring semester: Caelan Martin, Outstanding Undergraduate Student for the Division of Arts and Sciences and recipient of the Dennis J. Mitchell Award of Excellence; Tricia LaBiche ,Outstanding Undergraduate Student for the Division of Business; Mariam Khmaladze, Outstanding Graduate Student for the Division of Business; Morgan Melton, Outstanding Graduate Student for the Division of Education; and Mari Williams, Outstanding Undergraduate Student for the Division of Education. Thursday's commencement ceremony may be viewed on MSTV or at mstv.msstate.edu. It also will be shown on the MSU-Meridian Facebook page. |
| Pandemic gave lasting boost to green industry | |
| Home lawns and landscapes have possibly never looked better, as consumer data show people changed buying habits and spent more on plant and landscape items during the pandemic. Tricia Knight, director of coastal horticulture research at Mississippi State University's South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station in Poplarville, said revenue for the green industry grew during the pandemic in part because people were looking for something positive amid all the uncertainty. "Plants make people feel better, so there was the aesthetic aspect of making their little corner of their isolated world look and feel better," said Knight, a researcher with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. "It was a little thing that people had some control over." According to a study on COVID-19 pandemic gardening in the U.S. published February in HortTechnology, a journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, Americans spent 8% more than normal on green industry products in 2020 compared to 2019. The horticulture or green industry encompasses input suppliers, production firms, wholesale distribution firms, horticultural service firms, and retail operations that sell plants and plant materials. "The increase in sales in 2020 was driven by a combination of increased purchasing by long-term buyers and new entrants to the market," the study states. MSU supports the green industry in a variety of ways. MSU and MAFES researchers examine ways producers can be more profitable, developing data-based recommendations for such things as weed control, fertilizer and better propagation methods. They develop or test plant material for the local climate, put research plots on display at field days, and allow the needs and concerns of producers to drive their research focus areas. Over the years, MSU researchers have developed new plant varieties through careful breeding programs designed to produce selections ideally suited to certain conditions. |
| MSU offers livestream options for commencement ceremonies | |
 | Mississippi State University (MSU) friends and family who want to view commencement ceremonies from a distance can do so via MSTV or livestream. The channel is available to MaxxSouth Broadband subscribers in the Golden Triangle and those with C Spire Fiber TV throughout the state on Channel 80. MSTV's livestream also is available at https://utc.msstate.edu/mstv/. Additionally, MSU's three main Thursday and Friday commencements will be livestreamed on the MSU Facebook page and MSU-Meridian commencement will be shown on the MSU-Meridian Facebook page. |
| 'Georgia On My Mind' celebrates the music of Ray Charles | |
| One of America's most iconic and influential singers will be celebrated on the MSU Riley Center stage by an all-star cast of award-winning performers. "Georgia On My Mind: Celebrating the Music of Ray Charles" will be presented Saturday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m., at the downtown Meridian venue. "Georgia On My Mind" commemorates the late singer, songwriter, pianist, composer and Georgia native in the best way possible: with his music, which is based on gospel, blues, jazz and country. Recognized as an American treasure, Charles transcended racism and culture upheavals to win every major honor: from the Georgia Music Hall of Fame to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. From The Kennedy Center Honors to a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Tickets for "Georgia On My Mind: Celebrating the Music of Ray Charles" are $50 to $115 (included in the MSU Riley Center's Fall/Winter Season). Tickets may be purchased online at www.msurileycenter.com or call 601-696-2200. |
| Upcoming concert to honor longtime supporters of regional music scene | |
 | The Barn Concert Series is honoring two longtime supporters of the regional music scene on May 19. Steve Ellis, who hosts the concerts with his wife Kay Ellis at their home on Mac Davis Road, said the concert donation jar will benefit the Columbus Arts Council in memory of Beverly Norris and Jan Swoope. The sisters supported the Golden Triangle music scene through their time and talents. "I mean, they were two of the very largest patrons of the arts in Columbus," said Ellis, who ran Mississippi State University's WMSV radio station for a number of years. "Jan wrote about everybody and Beverly booked everybody. ... The two of them, you would often see them at any concert within 200 miles. They just loved music." The concert, featuring Andrew Duhon and Grace Pettis, will be held from 6:30-9 p.m. May 19 at the Ellis' property at 136 Mac Davis Road, Columbus. As of Saturday, there were only 18 tickets left for the show, Ellis said. Norris was program director at the Columbus Arts Council for eight years. She died in 2019. Swoope wrote concert reviews for The Dispatch before becoming lifestyles editor in 2008. She died in 2021. While Ellis ran WMSV, the sisters would often call him. "They would call me all the time with all kinds of suggestions and stuff," he said. "They were just great friends and very knowledgeable music people." |
| SOCSD approves cell service upgrades | |
| Stronger cell phone network connectivity on the Starkville High School campus is one step closer. At the Tuesday meeting of the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees, the board unanimously approved to move forward with seeing easement documents in a proposal by C-Spire to add two new small cellular facilities on campus. The two facilities will be attached to already-existing poles given the poles are strong enough to hold the equipment, according to Belinda Bodie, Neel-Schaffer lease and zoning manager representing C-Spire. One location is an existing pole in front of Millsaps Career and Technology Center, and the other location is near the football stadium on the athletic campus. "There is already a light pole (between the band hall and Millsaps), but we're not sure if it's sturdy enough to hold the equipment," Bodie said. "If not, we would have to place another wooden pole there that is very similar to what Starkville Utilities has for their transformer pole in the back on the next aisle over. Over by the stadium, we would actually attach to one of the stadium light poles -- those we do all the time. Over by the stadium, you would not have a new pole. ... By the parking lot, (you'd have) possibly a new wooden pole that looks similar to what you see with transformer poles with Starkville Utilities." |
| Caterpillar Works to Turn Old Engines Into New Profits | |
 | Construction equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. wants to sell engines -- again and again. Every day, old, beat-up and broken-down engines from mining trucks and compactors return to a factory in Corinth, Mississippi, to be inspected, taken apart and rebuilt again as new. The effort, which in 2021 took in an estimated 127 million pounds of equipment to be reprocessed, is part of a push by the construction equipment giant to meet environmental goals and boost revenue from services, which Caterpillar said could also give the company an edge over rivals. "It's taking a product which is towards the end of its life, refurbishing it and basically putting it back in service and extending the life," said Caterpillar financial chief Andrew Bonfield. "From a customer's perspective, effectively they get a refurbished machine, almost as good as new, at a lower cost." At a Caterpillar facility in Mississippi, around 22 truckloads of used engines arrive daily from all over the world. Workers inspect engines that might have spent tens of thousands of hours inside a backhoe constructing homes, or providing backup-power generation to a hospital. They determine which engines can be remanufactured, and send them to a factory next door, or to other Caterpillar remanufacturing locations as far-flung as Indonesia. Workers in Corinth process engines from about 150 horsepower up to nearly 5,000 horsepower, some of the largest models Caterpillar makes. Engines are cleaned, disassembled and rebuilt with a combination of new and remanufactured parts from other engines. |
| Mississippi farmers taking major hit with rising inflation, Ag Commissioner Gipson says | |
 | Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson sat down with Y'all Politics on Tuesday to discuss how rising inflation and gas prices are impacting Mississippi's farmers. America, and Mississippi, are food exporters. Meaning, the state produces and exports more than it consumes. This means Mississippi relies heavily on the agricultural industry for economic support, and right now farmers are taking a hit. "It costs a lot of money to raise our food. Our farmers have the responsibility, they have the commitment to farm to raise the food we need but they also have the cost and its coming in the form of more than doubled fuel prices, more than doubled fertilizer prices," said Gipson. For example, Commissioner Gipson said the cost per acre to raise corn in the state in 2021 ranged from $12.38 to $44.50. This year, those costs have doubled to a minimum of $25.75 to $92.76 per acre. Gipson disputed any idea that farmers are "getting rich" off of these prices. He said, in fact, it is the opposite. "Farmers are eating these high prices and the food inflation, which I think is about 6 percent, is just a fraction of the doubling costs are farmers are feeling every day," said Gipson, adding that if food producers were being paid what it was really worth, the farmers might be coming out reasonably but that is not happening. One of the biggest ways consumers can support Mississippi farmers is by shopping local. The Agriculture and Commerce Department has resources on their website that help people know how to purchase directly from a farmer. Commissioner Gipson said farmers' markets have more than doubled across the state since last year. |
| Inflation cools slightly to 8.3 percent | |
 | Inflation cooled off slightly in April as the pace of both yearly and monthly price growth dropped, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department. The consumer price index (CPI), the Labor Department's closely watched gauge of inflation, rose 8.3 percent over the past 12 months and 0.3 percent in April alone. Economists expected annual inflation to drop to 8.1 percent in March and with a 0.2 percent rise in prices, according to consensus estimates. Inflation slowed from a 8.5 percent annual rate in March and a whopping 1.2 percent month-over-month rise as gas and oil prices declined from a peak driven by the war in Ukraine. Gasoline prices dropped 6.7 percent in April and energy prices on whole dropped 2.7 percent last month after double-digit gains in March. Gas prices are still up 44.7 percent over the past 12 months and energy prices remain 30.3 percent higher than they were last April. While a dip in gas prices brought some relief for consumers, inflation in other crucial goods and services continued to rise. Food prices rose 0.9 percent in April and are up 9.4 percent on the year -- the steepest annual increase since April 1981 -- with groceries alone costing 10.8 percent more over the past 12 months. Prices for transportation services rose 3.1 percent on the month and prices for medical care services rose 0.5 percent in April. |
| Government data seems to show inflation's slowing. But that doesn't mean prices will fall. | |
 | On Wednesday, the consumer price index for the month of April comes out, and if the numbers are anything like the other commonly used measure of inflation -- the personal consumption expenditures index -- the CPI will show that inflation is slowing down. If that happens, it could mean this economy has reached, and maybe passed, peak inflation. Which means prices will come down, seemingly. "Heh -- that's really not the way it works," said Tim Duy, economics professor at the University of Oregon. "Inflation is really the rate of change in the price level. So inflation slowing just means that prices are not rising as quickly as they were last month," he said. A slowdown, though, would be part of the Federal Reserve's goal of keeping prices stable. Laura Veldkamp is an economics professor at Columbia. She said you can think of the economy as a car driving through a neighborhood, with the Fed at the wheel. "The Fed wants the car to drive at a really prudent pace through residential neighborhoods and not tear up the streets, but also not drive backwards," Veldkamp said. That means the Fed wants a little inflation, just not as much as we've been experiencing. According to Menzie Chinn, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin, inflation can be a sign that the job market is strong and people feel comfortable spending money. "You have to think about -- well, if I didn't have the inflation, would I also not have the buoyant economy?" Chinn said. If prices started falling, that's known as deflation. The car shifts into reverse ... and maybe jumps a curb and knocks over trash cans. |
| Inflation may be easing -- but low-income people are still paying the steepest prices | |
 | Four-dollar gasoline and five-dollar hamburger are putting a squeeze on Tanya Byron's pocketbook. But it's the rent that really stings. "It's pretty depressing," says the Jacksonville, Fla., travel agent, sitting in the tiny dining room that doubles as her home office. "I make $42,000 a year, and I can barely afford a one-bedroom apartment." The rising costs of housing, food and other necessities are big drivers of inflation, and they fall especially hard on lower-income Americans, posing a growing challenge for President Biden and the nation's top economic policymakers. A report from the Labor Department Wednesday shows consumer prices in April were 8.3% higher than a year earlier. That's a modest decrease from the March inflation rate of 8.5%, thanks in part to a short-lived drop in gasoline prices last month. Gas prices have since rebounded to a record high, though unadjusted for inflation. But food and shelter costs remained elevated, according to the latest inflation report. When inflation is high, everyone pays the price, but research suggests that lower-income families suffer the most. "Typically food and gasoline and housing are a bigger share of total spending for lower-income households than for higher-income households," says Dan Sichel, an economist at Wellesley College. Those with lower incomes tend to pay higher prices, even for similar items. They may be less able to travel to cheaper stores, take advantage of seasonal discounts or "get the giant package of toilet paper to stash in the basement when it's on sale." |
| 'It's scary': Mothers scour stores, social media to find baby formula | |
| As Mississippi parents of babies who are formula-fed grapple with the national shortage, parents on government assistance and those who have babies with allergies may face extra challenges. The formula shortage is having a major impact in Mississippi, which has the second-lowest rate of breastfeeding in the nation. Parents are taking to social media to swap formulas and post about available products that are in stock at stores. Some are even attempting to start breastfeeding again -- a difficult and time-consuming process -- and doctors have had to issue warnings about homemade formula. Supply-chain issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic are one cause of the formula shortage. Manufacturers are struggling to obtain certain ingredients, and labor issues have affected distribution. The shortage has also been exacerbated by a recent recall of three major baby formula brands manufactured by Abbott Nutrition after a probe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found bacterial contamination at one Abbott facility in Sturgis, Michigan. At least four babies were hospitalized and two died after consuming contaminated formula, the FDA said. At retailers across the country, 31% of the top-selling baby formula products were out of stock in April, according to an analysis from Datasembly, which tracked baby formula stock at more than 11,000 stores. In contrast, the national out-of-stock levels for baby formula were at 11% in November. Dr. Anita Henderson, president of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a pediatrician at The Pediatric Clinic in Hattiesburg, said her clinic has received many calls from concerned moms over the last few weeks because they're having trouble finding the formula they use. "We're encouraging them to check in different stores, because smaller pharmacies and grocery stores may get restocked more quickly, or just be utilized less than the large chains like Walmart." |
| State Auditor: Jackson's crime problem should concern every taxpayer in Mississippi | |
| Last weekend's deadly shooting at the Mississippi Mudbug festival is still weighing heavy on the minds of elected officials. Monday, State Auditor Shad White spoke out after recommending the event as a fun activity for his wife and kids. "Thankfully, my wife did not go and did not take our two girls, but in reflecting on that, I can only imagine the grief and the guilt that I would feel if I had told my wife to go to this event, she had taken our kids there, and somebody had gotten hurt," White said. The auditor said it was a very personal wake-up call that there is a cost to the Capital City's crime problem. "When you see a big family-friendly event like this get turned into something that is horrific, it shows that [Mississippi] is in danger of losing its biggest magnet for skilled workers," he said. What White is referring to is a recent report from the State Auditor's Office that shows 30% of those who graduate from a Mississippi Public University start their career in Hinds County. The second-highest county is Harrison, at 6%. Therefore, White fears crime in the Capital City will have long-term impacts on the entire state. "If you look around the country, Georgia is doing well because Atlanta is doing well, and Tennessee is doing well because Nashville is doing well. Mississippi cannot do well unless Jackson also does well," he said. The state auditor said one of the next major projects for his office is compiling a report that shows the direct dollar cost to taxpayers of a homicide in Mississippi and the corresponding economic fall off that follows. |
| Andy Gipson turns armory into command center to fight city crime. | |
| The ag commissioner says he wants to turn the old National Guard Armory on the State Fairgrounds into a base command for fighting crime in the Capital City. Crews have been working to clear out the building that was built in the 1920s so it can be repurposed. "My vision is this will be working inside the gates all the time," said Andy Gipson, commissioner of agriculture and commerce. Gipson is continuing his campaign against crime in Jackson in the wake of a gunfight during the Mississippi Mudbug Festival at the fairgrounds. Six people were injured and a teen suspect was killed by an Edwards police officer hired for a security detail at the event. The Ag Department does have a small contingent of livestock agents, but typically hires outside agencies for event security. "We don't have a police force. We contract with law enforcement. We have the authority to contract with any law enforcement in this state and we are going to do that. We are going to take it to the next level inside this perimeter and outside this perimeter, and when arrests are made, we are going to make sure they go to jail," Gipson said. "Really making that a staging area, so if we did have a saturation detail, bringing in a lot of state law enforcement agents, as well as other local agencies, they could use that as a base to operate," said Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell. |
| When the sheriff waged a war on drugs in a Mississippi county | |
 | It was a Saturday night in November not long before Thanksgiving when Joe Wade Jr. called his girlfriend with a threat. Eva York had left him after another fight and was staying with a friend, Bengie Edwards. "You need to leave and take your kids with you, or I'm going to call the sheriff and tell him that Bengie's selling drugs," Wade said. York, watching a movie with Edwards and her two children in the living room, refused to leave. Edwards had already gone to bed by the time York's son got a bizarre text from Wade -- a recording of the song from the television show "Cops": "Whatcha gonna do when they come for you." Suddenly, around 9:30 p.m., Monroe County deputies smashed a battering ram into Edwards's front door and stormed inside. Edwards shot up in bed. He started putting on his socks when someone shined a flashlight into his eyes and pointed a gun at his head. Deputies threw the wiry 53-year-old to the floor and handcuffed him. Edwards, handcuffed and shirtless, had no idea what was happening. He couldn't figure out why Sheriff Cecil Cantrell -- the county's most powerful law enforcement officer -- was standing in his living room. Edwards didn't know that Eric Sloan, the head narcotics officer, had obtained a search warrant for his home. The 2014 raid on Edwards's home was a no-knock, one of the most dangerous and intrusive policing tactics, in which officers force their way into homes without warning. These high-risk searches were intended to be used sparingly. But over the years, police have increasingly deployed no-knock raids across the country, with little pushback from judges who sign off on the warrants. And in Monroe County, no-knocks were the rule rather than the exception. |
| Political reality: Congress can't save -- or end -- abortion | |
 | After fighting for decades over abortion policy, Congress is about to run into the stark political limits of its ability to save -- or end -- the Roe v. Wade protections. President Joe Biden has called on Democrats to enshrine the nearly 50-year-old Supreme Court ruling into law after the disclosure of a draft opinion that would overturn the landmark decision that declared a constitutional right to abortion services. But passing bills is easier said than done in the narrowly split Congress -- reflective of a deeply divided nation. A test vote Wednesday in the Senate on a Democratic bill to protect access to abortions is expected to fail, blocked by a Republican-led filibuster. At the same time, Republicans led by Sen. Mitch McConnell face similar political problems trying to ban abortions nationwide, even if they wrest control of the chamber in next fall's midterm elections. Instead, whatever the Supreme Court decides on Roe v. Wade in its final opinion this summer almost guarantees a new era of political fighting in Congress over abortion policy, filibuster rules and the most basic rights to health care, privacy and protecting the unborn. Both parties face enormous pressure to convince voters they are doing all they can -- the Democrats working to preserve abortion access and the Republicans to end it -- as they race toward fall when control of Congress is at stake in the elections. |
| Biden to roll out retooled crop production plan at Illinois farm | |
 | President Joe Biden will on Wednesday announce actions by the Agriculture Department to boost production of wheat and other food crops, pivoting quickly after lawmakers scrapped a $500 million White House crop proposal in a Ukraine aid bill. Biden is expected to detail three administrative actions during a visit to a farm in Kankakee, Ill., that he says will help lower domestic food prices by boosting production and increase agricultural exports, thereby increasing farmers' revenue and supporting jobs in farm and rural communities. The Agriculture Department will remove restrictions in up to 681 counties on crop insurance coverage for double cropping, a practice that allows farmers to plant successive and different crops on the same land. A common double cropping combination is to plant wheat followed by soybeans in the same year, after the wheat is harvested. More than 1,200 counties now have insurable double cropping, and a White House fact sheet said easing restrictions could bring the total to 1,935 counties. The department also will double funding, from $250 million to $500 million, for an effort to spur more domestic production of fertilizer. Already rising before the war in Ukraine, fertilizer costs have surged since the conflict began. Russia is a major producer of phosphate fertilizer. The cost of fertilizer is a top complaint among farmers and lawmakers with farm constituents. Biden also will call on farmers to tap the Agriculture Department's research and technical assistance network for help in managing fertilizer use through precision agriculture and other means. |
| Ukraine Accuses Russia of Stealing Its Grain | |
| Russian troops in Ukraine are shipping grains and produce critical to the Ukrainian economy to Crimea, the country's officials alleged, adding to their list of grievances against Russian occupying forces, as local collaborators called for incorporation into Russia. The military administration of the Zaporizhzhia region said that a column of Russian trucks loaded with Ukrainian grain had left the occupied town of Enerhodar on Tuesday with a Russian military escort. They said it was bound for the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The administration also said that vegetables and sunflower seeds are being taken. The Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense didn't respond to requests for comment. Meanwhile, authorities in the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, of strategic importance for its access to the Black Sea, plan to submit a request to Moscow to be formally accepted as part of Russia, a Kremlin-aligned official said Wednesday. Ukraine provides about 10% of global wheat exports, 14% of corn exports and roughly half of the world's sunflower oil, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, the department has cut its outlook for the world's wheat trade in the current season by more than 6 million tons, or 3%, as expectations for lower Russian and Ukrainian exports outpace anticipated increases elsewhere. |
| US, Western Europe fret over uncertain Ukraine war endgame | |
| An interminable and unwinnable war in Europe? That's what NATO leaders fear and are bracing for as Russia's war in Ukraine grinds into its third month with little sign of a decisive military victory for either side and no resolution in sight. The possibility of a stalemate is fueling concerns that Ukraine may remain a deadly European battlefield and a source of continental and global instability for months, or even years, to come. Energy and food security are the most immediate worries, but massive Western support for Ukraine while the world is still emerging from coronavirus pandemic and struggling to deal with the effects of climate change could deepen the toll on the global economy. And should Russia choose to escalate, the risk of a broader conflict rises. The U.S. and its allies are pumping a steady stream of lethal weaponry into Ukraine to keep it in the fight. While most analysts say Kyiv is holding its own at the least, those infusions must continue if they are to support President Volodomyr Zelenskyy's vow to win, or at least continue to match or beat back, Moscow's advances. At the same time, Kelly said that no matter how many miscalculations Putin has made about the strength and will of Ukraine to resist or the unity and resolve of the NATO allies, Putin cannot accept defeat or anything short of a scenario that he can claim has achieved success. "It would be political suicide for Putin to withdraw," Kelly said. |
| United Methodist conferences cannot disaffiliate from denomination, church court rules | |
 | Annual conferences within the United Methodist Church cannot leave as part of an ongoing schism within the nation's largest mainline Protestant denomination, the church's highest court ruled Tuesday. The decision from the Judicial Council is a major blow to more conservative conferences, or regional governing organizations, that sought to leave the UMC as a bloc. Currently, individual churches are allowed to "disaffiliate" from the UMC. "The Judicial Council ruling may complicate this transition for some but it will not change the ultimate outcome," Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion & Democracy, said in a statement. Tooley's organization is one of several groups involved in the formation of the new traditionalist Methodist denomination, the Global Methodist Church. The Global Methodist Church launched on May 1, splintering from the UMC. The new denomination upholds more conservative stances on sexuality and gender, a debate in the UMC driving much of the schism. The Wesleyan Covenant Association -- the main organization behind the Global Methodist Church's formation -- met May 6-7 to recommend policies for the new denomination to implement. "Separation has serious ramifications not only for the departing annual conference but also entities and persons outside its boundaries because it is a dramatic departure from connectionalism --- the 'vital web of interactive relationships,'" read the Judicial Council's majority opinion Tuesday. The Judicial Council's decision only applies to the 51 U.S.-based conferences. The Romania-Bulgaria conference of the UMC has already left the denomination. |
| UM Institute of Child Nutrition joins with FARE to address food allergies | |
| The Institute of Child Nutrition at the University of Mississippi has partnered with the nonprofit Food Allergy Research and Education, known as FARE, to raise awareness and expand education efforts on food allergies, specifically in child nutrition settings. The institute has completed a memorandum of understanding with FARE that outlines activities where both organizations can work together to provide the most up-to-date, scientific-based information on food allergy through education and training programs for child nutrition professionals and others working in child nutrition programs. It also strengthens opportunities for FARE and the institute to share, create and disseminate food allergy education and training to improve comfort and safety for children with food allergies in child nutrition programs, such as school lunch programs. "Our partnership with FARE allows us to provide child nutrition professionals with the most up-to-date, scientific-based information on food allergy," says Aleshia Hall-Campbell, the institute's executive director. "We are excited for the opportunities this partnership can provide and the assistance it can offer to ease the burden of food allergies within child nutrition programs." The institute, part of the university's School of Applied Sciences, is the only federally funded national center dedicated to applied research, education and training, and technical assistance for child nutrition programs. |
| Pontotoc natives awarded U. of Mississippi's highest honor | |
| Two Pontotoc natives and University of Mississippi Tupelo students have been recognized as the top of among their class. Brianna Wallace and Sarah Catherine Ware were each presented with Marcus Elvis Taylor Memorial Medals, the university's highest academic honor, during last weekend's commencement ceremonies. Both Wallace and Ware are from Pontotoc, both attended the Ole Miss campus in Tupelo and both are gearing up for meaningful careers in Northeast Mississippi communities. Wallace, a 2017 graduate of South Pontotoc High School, began her college career at Itawamba Community College in Fulton. After high school, she began to find opportunities to help others and her community through service projects and mission trips. Ware, a secondary education major, also ranked academically among the top 1% of the Ole Miss student body this year. She plans to take her love for learning to a local classroom this fall as she begins a career as an English teacher. Ware graduated from Pontotoc City Schools in 2018, attended Itawamba Community College and transferred to the UM-Tupelo campus in fall 2020 to pursue a degree in education. |
| East Mississippi Community College, William Carey University sign agreement | |
| An agreement between East Mississippi Community College and William Carey University will make it easier for EMCC students to transition into health care programs offered at William Carey University. Officials from EMCC and William Carey University attended a ceremonial signing of the agreement May 9 in the Art Gallery on EMCC's Golden Triangle campus. Those in attendance included EMCC President Dr. Scott Alsobrooks, EMCC Vice President of Instruction Dr. James Rush, WCU Executive Vice President Dr. Ben Burnett and WCU Associate Vice President of the College of Health Sciences Dr. Janet Williams. Program instructors from EMCC's Division of Nursing and Allied Health were also on hand. Under the agreement, William Carey University will assist EMCC to initiate pre-professional health care programs that include Physical Therapy, Pharmacy, Health Information Management, Health Administration and Education, and Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing, along with other university programs deemed appropriate. Some credits earned through the Division of Nursing and Allied Health at EMCC will transfer into programs offered at the William Carey University College of Health Sciences. EMCC students will also be able to take online baccalaureate-level courses taught by faculty at William Carey. Dual enrollment courses will be available to students enrolled in nursing and pre-professional health care courses. The dual enrollment courses will be available at EMCC's tuition rate. "We are grateful to William Carey University for this opportunity to provide additional educational opportunities to our students," Alsobrooks said. |
| Civil rights lawyer Fred Gray receives honorary degree from U. of Alabama | |
 | The University of Alabama presented civil rights pioneer and attorney Fred Gray with an honorary law degree May 8. Gray, born in 1930 in Montgomery, attended Alabama State for his bachelor's and Case Western Reserve University for his law degree, before returning to the South to work on several high-profile legal cases. He defended Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks and provided legal counsel for the NAACP and victims of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. He also successfully represented Vivian Malone and James Hood in their effort to enroll at the University of Alabama in 1963. The University of Alabama held regular commencement ceremonies last week. 2022 marks the 50th anniversary since Michael Figures, Booker Forte Jr. and Ronald E. Jackson became the first African American students to graduate from The University of Alabama School of Law in 1972. Gray also worked as a preacher in Montgomery and was one of the first African American candidates elected to the Alabama Legislature since Reconstruction. |
| LSU sets new COVID-19 guidelines for summer session, ending symptom tracker and closing testing sites | |
 | With the spring semester coming to a close, LSU updated its COVID-19 guidelines for the summer session on Tuesday. Beginning Saturday, the daily symptom tracker will be discontinued and members of the LSU community will no longer receive daily email or text alerts. Students, faculty, and staff are still required to report positive cases of COVID-19, according to LSU. A new reporting tool has been added to the MyLSU homepage and can be accessed under the Campus Community menu. COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters for students, faculty, and staff will remain available at the Student Health Center, along with COVID testing for students. The 4-H Mini Barn testing site will discontinue testing on Friday, but will continue to provide vaccinations until Friday, May 27. The Coates Hall testing site is closed and the COVID-19 Call Center will close on Saturday. "We will continue to monitor the situation and consult with the Health & Medical Advisory Committee during the summer," the university wrote in a statement Tuesday. "We will provide any further updates prior to the fall semester, or if the situation changes before that." |
| Presidential search continues, graduate students wary | |
| The search for the University of Florida's next president has begun, and graduate students remain frustrated they are not represented on the Presidential Search committee. UF students and faculty received an email from the university detailing the search Tuesday. The Search Advisory Committee will host an open forum meeting May 10 to discuss questions and concerns. Some students are already unsatisfied. Paul Wassel, president of the Graduate Student Council and UF PhD student in the genetics and genomic program, disagrees with the current structure of the committee and was disappointed graduate students weren't represented. He wants a student on the panel who understands graduate students' experiences. Student Body President Lauren Lemasters is the only student on the presidential search committee. She finished her undergraduate education in Spring and has begun pursuing a masters degree this Summer. "One student representing 50,000 students on one of the most important searches the university has seen since we hired President Fuchs is kind of shocking, to be honest," Wassel said. The Presidential Search Committee for UF's 12th president, which resulted in President Kent Fuchs' appointment, had similar representation. Christina Bonariggo, a former UF student body president, represented students on the committee. Wassel thinks it will be hard for Lemasters to provide a graduate student perspective with only undergraduate experience, he said. |
| All 23 defendants in Missouri's Fiji hazing lawsuit settle with family of former pledge Danny Santulli | |
 | Settlements have been reached with all defendants in a hazing lawsuit against the national Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and local fraternity members at the University of Missouri. Former MU student Danny Santulli is in a Colorado rehabilitation hospital with severe brain injuries resulting from alcohol poisoning he experienced at the Phi Gamma Delta house on campus in October. Santulli was a freshman pledge at the fraternity, commonly known as Fiji. Attorney David Bianchi was present for a hearing in Boone County Circuit Court on Tuesday to reveal the information to Judge Joshua Devine. "We have settled with all 23 defendants," Bianchi said. Santulli's parents, Tom and Mary Pat Santulli, and sister, Meredith Santulli, were with Bianchi for the court hearing and when he met reporters outside. Only Bianchi spoke with reporters. Danny Santulli can't walk, speak or respond to commands, Bianchi has said. The settlements were reached so that Danny Santulli can be well cared for in the coming years, Bianchi said. The settlements are going through probate court and therefore not public, but Bianchi said that's fine with the family. "They're not anxious to have the amount of the settlements in the media," Bianchi said. "All they're interested in is that Danny is being taken care of." |
| As Tennessee spends down TANF stockpile, U. of Memphis will help 2,500 families through job training | |
| With $25 million in state funding, the University of Memphis is weaving several university centers and community organizations together to the benefit of some 2,500 West Tennessee families over the next three years through workforce training programs and related wraparound services. U of M received the grant, which it says is the largest in the university's history, as Tennessee begins spending down on a reserve for funds for low-income families. In 2019, the state was reported to have more than $730 million in unused federal funds. The state will use $175 million of the current $700 million it has in unused funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to fund pilot programs to help families in need. U of M is the lone university among the seven recipients of the $25 million grants, which Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee Department of Human Services announced last week. U of M's program is called "Growing Relational and Occupational Wealth in West Tennessee Households" or GROWWTH, for short, and was developed from information researchers collected through interviews with 451 TANF recipients across each county in West Tennessee. The project, set to begin this fall, will resource West Tennessee families with upskilling and job training and will help address barriers like childcare and transportation, explained Richard Irwin, executive dean at U of M and lead on the project. |
| How a Florida public university helps more students to graduate sooner | EdSource | |
| University of South Florida can count Nicholas Bennett as one of its victories in its campaign to bolster the Tampa school's graduation rates over the past decade. As the pandemic pushed classes online, Bennett fell into a downward spiral of poor grades. He stopped, started and stopped attending classes. But then, counselors and campus advisers helped get him back on his degree path. With special petitioning, he was able to turn some F grades into withdrawals, limiting damage to his grade average, and switched majors from mechanical engineering to accounting. Bennett returned to school this spring and still hopes to graduate by 2025, using some credits from summer school. During the worst of it, Bennett, 20, said he thought that "college might not be for me." But the welcoming attitude from advisers and their proposal for another way toward graduation changed his mind. Without all that effort, he said. "I don't think I would have gone back." His story marks one of the many efforts across the Florida public university campus to help more students -- especially the many low- and moderate-income ones -- stay in school and graduate. Located 10 miles north of Tampa's glamorous downtown tourist hotels, USF's main campus on a former barren Army airfield is now planted with dorms, classroom buildings and impressively tall palm trees. About 32,300 undergraduates are enrolled, 40% of whom qualify for federal aid for low-income students. Its first classes began in 1960 and its academic progress over the past decade has been notable: Its four-year graduation rate rose from 24% in 2010 to 59% in 2020 and its six-year rate increased from 51% to 74%, according to the most recently available federal statistics. |
| 39 Million Americans Went to College but Didn't Earn a Degree. Here's What We Know About Who Returned. | |
 | Can universities and colleges do more to identify and re-enroll people who attended college but dropped out before earning a certificate, or an associate or bachelor's degree? Absolutely, says the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, which estimates in a new report that more than 39 million people checked that box as of July 2020. The critical nexus for this part of the population? Community colleges. Of those 39 million former students, well over half (58 percent) last attended a community college before dropping out. In addition, NSCRC found that, of the more than half-million former community-college attendees who re-enrolled at an institution of higher education in the 2020-21 academic year, 44 percent returned to the community college they had attended the most recently before dropping out. An additional 26 percent of those 500,000-plus re-enrollees returned to study again at a community college -- but at a different campus from the one they last attended. In comparison, students who re-enrolled at the same public and private, nonprofit four-year institutions they had previously dropped-out from did so at lower rates: 30 percent and 26.9 percent, respectively. Mirroring the college-enrollment gender-gap, female re-enrollers (regardless of the last institution of attendance) outnumbered their male counterparts by nearly 20 percentage points. Re-enrollers also tended to be relatively young -- about two-thirds were 34 or younger. |
| Nobel laureate and physicist Wilczek wins Templeton Prize | |
| Frank Wilczek, the Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist and author renowned for his boundary-pushing investigations into the fundamental laws of nature, was honored Wednesday with this year's prestigious Templeton Prize, awarded to individuals whose life's work embodies a fusion of science and spirituality. In a statement, the John Templeton Foundation praised the 70-year-old Wilczek for transforming "our understanding of the forces that govern our universe," while also applying "the insights of his field to the great questions of meaning and purpose pondered by generations of religious thinkers." Established in 1972 by the late philanthropist Sir John Templeton, the prize is one of the world's most lucrative individual awards, currently more than $1.3 million. Past winners include Jane Goodall, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Growing up Catholic, he embraced the idea that there was a grand plan behind existence. But as he learned more about science, he eventually lost faith in conventional religion and, in his words, "jettisoned detailed dogmas." Still, he took from Catholicism lasting ideas that he has treasured throughout his life, including, he told AP, "that there's a hidden meaning to things that we can try to figure out. And that you can think big in terms of what it all means and how it came to be." Wilczek currently is a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Arizona State University and Stockholm University. He is also founding director of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's T.D. Lee Institute and chief scientist at the school's Wilczek Quantum Center. |
| Odds improve for winning NSF grants, but drop in applications troubles some observers | |
| Federal research agencies strive to fund a healthy percentage of the grant applications they receive, ensuring that scientists can pursue their best ideas. A steadily rising budget is their preferred method for maintaining a robust success rate. But a fall in applications can have the same effect. A new report from the National Science Foundation (NSF) on its merit review system documents how falling demand has boosted success rates at the $8.5 billion research agency. Released late last month, the analysis shows the annual number of applications submitted to NSF has dropped by 17% over the past decade, falling from 51,562 in 2011 to 42,723 in 2020. Success rates jumped from 22% to 28% during the same period, even though the number of grants awarded increased by 8%. The rate rose even faster -- from 19% to 28% -- for the agency's standard research grants. Higher education officials say many factors influence whether a researcher submits a grant, including their readiness to participate in a new solicitation or their perception of the odds of getting funded. The COVID-19 pandemic, which caused massive disruptions on campus, could also play a role. (The report only covers operations through September 2020, which spans the first 6 months of the pandemic.) The trends are not uniform across the agency. The data-rich report includes a suggestion from the science board for improving another crucial metric: the "dwell time" between the receipt of a proposal and notifying the applicant of a funding decision. |
| Provosts stand firm in annual survey | |
 | Most provosts say the academic health of their institution is good, and changes made during the pandemic have not negatively impacted academic quality. No provosts indicate that academic health is failing at their institutions, and 54 percent rate it as good. That is a key result of the 2022 Survey of College and University Chief Academic Officers, published today by Inside Higher Ed and Hanover Research. Most provosts are satisfied with their institution's general education program, and about half of provosts report that their institution recently evaluated the effectiveness of its general education requirements. Most provosts (89 percent) have a positive view of liberal arts education and agree that liberal arts education is central to undergraduate and professional education. But 71 percent of provosts strongly or somewhat agree that they "expect to see the number of liberal arts colleges decline significantly over the next five years." Almost all provosts (86 percent) agree that healthy undergraduate education requires healthy liberal arts departments (such as English); yet most (69 percent) also agree that STEM and professional programs are being prioritized by politicians and board members. Provosts are split on whether their institutions' financial status has improved in the last year, and about 41 percent say that their institution used the economic downturn in 2020 to make changes in their academic budgets. Almost all provosts (87 percent) indicate that financial concerns are prevalent in their institution's discussion about launching new academic programs. |
| Out-migration critical issue for Mississippi politicians | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford writes: Too many Mississippi politicians focus on the wrong kind of migration. A recent column by Sid Salter exposes their over emphasis on illegal immigration. "Is Mississippi being swamped by undocumented immigrants 'stealing our jobs?' In a word, no. Only 1.6% of Mississippi's population is comprised of undocumented immigrants -- around 20,000 people among three million." The truly critical migration issue for Mississippi is out-migration. The 2020 Census showed Mississippi lost population from 2010, one of only three states to do so. That trend continued in 2021. "Population in 17 states declined last year, including Illinois, Mississippi, and West Virginia -- the same three states that lost residents during the 2010-20 decade," revealed a report from PEW Charitable Trusts. Notably, all states bordering Mississippi except Louisiana continued to show population increases. Mississippi was one of four states whose population losses resulted from two trends: 1) more people moved out than in; and 2) more people died than were born. ... Our federal and state politicians should look beyond immigration and tax cuts to provide communities the tools needed to retain and grow their population. This year's one-time investments in broadband and local infrastructure were positive. But many communities badly need prolonged investments in schools, health care, child care, and public safety too, plus local tax flexibility. |
| Wirt Yerger was a great man and my friend | |
| Mississippi newspaper publisher and columnist Wyatt Emmerich writes: I've still got a couple more Jesus Trail travelogues left, but I must interrupt that series to write about the passing of a great Mississippian, a great Jacksonian and a great American, Wirt Yerger. It's been a great blessing to have known and worked with some of the greatest men of our city and state -- Leland Speed, Billy Mounger, Stuart Irby, William Winter among others who have passed. Wirt Yerger is certainly among this constellation of greats. If I tried to print every great story from everyone who was influenced by Wirt Yerger, there would not be enough ink and newsprint to chronicle them all. ... I am saddened I will have to wait a bit until Wirt and I have yet another long conversation about politics and life. But I am also joyful that he was in my life and lived such an abundant life. We should thank God for all the people in our lives who have made life so wonderful. There are so many and Wirt was one. |
| Leaked high court decision puts Mississippi center stage in nation's abortion debate | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: As predicted months ago, Mississippi is now the epicenter of America's divisive, bitter abortion rights debate. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Dec. 1, 2021, in the Mississippi case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization -- Mississippi's last remaining abortion provider. "Dobbs" is State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs, familiar to Mississippians as the face of the COVID-19 pandemic's management and named in the case simply by virtue of his job. The draft opinion from Justice Samuel Alito leaked to Politico last week set off a national firestorm of protests from both sides of the issue. While Chief Justice John Roberts pledged an investigation and declared that the leaked Alito draft decision was not "final," the revelation of the apparent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will have relatively immediate legal, political, medical, and moral consequences across the nation. The leaked document seems to communicate a willingness from at least a five-member majority of the court to back away from the longtime legal precedents in the Roe and Planned Parenthood cases that pro-choice forces believe established a constitutional right to abortion. Such a ruling in the Dobbs case would dramatically shift the power to recognize and regulate abortion back to state legislatures. If Alito's leaked opinion indeed becomes the high court's ultimate ruling in Dobbs, the impact for much of the country will be rather abrupt. |
SPORTS
| Postseason Begins At SEC Tournament In Gainesville | |
| Mississippi State softball begins its postseason journey in Gainesville, Florida, this week at the SEC Tournament. The Bulldogs will be the No. 11 seed and are set to face No. 6-seed LSU on Wednesday, May 11. First pitch is at 11 a.m. CT on the SEC Network. State is half of one of two pairs of opening round matchups that are continuations of a weekend series. The Bulldogs and Tigers closed the regular season with a three-game set at Nusz Park. MSU (32-23, 10-14 SEC) won the finale in Starkville, and will look to take that momentum into a fourth meeting with LSU (34-20, 13-11 SEC). The other rematch is on the opposite side of the bracket between No. 8-seed Ole Miss and No. 9-seed Georgia. Ole Miss took the series in Athens over the weekend. State has won its opening game in three consecutive SEC Tournaments. MSU and LSU have met twice before in the postseason but not in since the 2001 bracket. The games have historically been very tight affairs. LSU claimed a one-run victory in 2001 and won in extra innings in 1999. Should the Bulldogs win on Wednesday, they would advance to play No. 3-seed Tennessee on Thursday at 11 a.m. CT on SEC Network. |
| New Mississippi State basketball coach Chris Jans talks roster, staff moves | |
| Chris Jans sits with coffee in a paper cup atop an SEC coaster to his left. The shelves surrounding are still barren except for a couple basketballs, coffee mugs and the traditional cowbell. The new Mississippi State men's basketball coach has taken over the room previously held by Ben Howland, and in the rush of getting a roster and staff together, decorating the office hasn't become priority. The same goes for assistant James Miller next door who has added photos of family, friends and former players but still has the remnants of the previous tenants in place. Two large team photos from the Howland tenure overlook his desk. Cowbells he inherited flood his workspace. Assistant David Anwar sits in the office nearest the entrance -- only a laptop in front of him with empty shelves surrounding. Between him and Miller is George Brooks' office. Entering his 13th season with the Bulldogs, Brooks has had some more time to add personality to his workspace. It's the reality inside Humphrey Coliseum where a new staff is settling in for the first time since Howland was hired in 2015. The sights and sounds of a fresh start flood the area. Beyond the vacant shelves are windows overlooking State's practice court – a place with significance this offseason as a revamped roster will learn to mesh. Outside Jans' office, the rumblings of bulldozers and construction workers echo as The Hump gets a facelift. A two-year process of renovating the basketball arena has begun while those sitting inside hope to provide a team worthy of the resources. |
| Women's Golf in Third Place Heading into Final Round of Tallahassee Regional | |
| Mississippi State women's golf completed the second round of the Tallahassee Regional on Tuesday. Ashley Gilliam and Hannah Levi led the pack in the second round as State finished third for the second consecutive day. Ashley Gilliam picked up exactly where she left off on Tuesday, birding three holes on the day. Gilliam currently leads the field with 10 birdies throughout the tournament. In the second round, Gilliam posted a score of 74 (2-over) to finish the day tied for third (1-under) heading into Wednesday's final round. Mississippi State will be paired with No. 10 UCLA and No. 16 Florida State for the final round of the Tallahassee Regional. State will tee it up on Hole 1 at approximately 9:06 AM ET. At the conclusion of stroke play on Wednesday, the top four teams will advance onto the NCAA Women's Golf Championships at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. |
| NIL expert predicts $50,000 minimum pay for Power 5 players | |
| Football and men's basketball players on scholarship in one of the major conferences can expect to soon earn a minimum of $50,000 each year he plays because of the influx of cash from so-called booster collectives brokering name, image and likeness deals. That prediction, based on market trends, was made this week by Blake Lawrence, co-founder and CEO of a company that helps athletes and schools navigate the ever-changing NIL landscape. The increasing dollar amounts available to college athletes through the recent formation of collectives has drawn the attention of the NCAA, which this week released guidance for schools in the hopes of maintaining the original intent of NIL compensation. College sports leaders are concerned some collectives have gone beyond paying athletes for activities such as endorsements and appearances and breaking the pay-for-play ban by offering cash to influence athletes' decisions on where to go to school. NCAA rules prohibit boosters from making contact with prospective recruits. Lawrence co-founded Opendorse in 2012 to facilitate endorsement deals for professional athletes. The former Nebraska football player was among the advisers who worked with the NCAA on forming NIL policy, and he expanded his company to bring opportunities to college athletes to cash in on their fame and developed compliance technology that allows schools to keep track of the deals. |
| A Bus Carrying an HBCU's Lacrosse Team Was Pulled Over. Deputies Searched It for Drugs. | |
| The president of a historically Black university says he is "incensed" that the institution's women's lacrosse team was subjected to a "trying and humiliating" traffic stop in Georgia, where law enforcement used a minor traffic violation as an opportunity to search the students' belongings for narcotics. Nothing illegal was found, and coaches and members of the Delaware State University team -- the majority of whom are Black -- have spoken out about the experience in the days since, describing the stop-and-search as racial profiling and a frightening ordeal. "We do not intend to let this or any other incident like it pass idly by. We are prepared to go wherever the evidence leads us," President Tony Allen of Delaware State University wrote in a letter to the campus community. "We have video. We have allies. Perhaps more significantly, we have the courage of our convictions." Allen also noted that he's reached out to Georgia law enforcement and that he's exploring "options for recourse --- legal and otherwise." Delaware State is one of two historically Black universities in the country to have an NCAA Division I women's lacrosse team. The other, Howard University, was also in the headlines last week: Students at Presbyterian College were suspended for their racist taunting of the Howard squad during a February game at the South Carolina college. During a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, Sheriff William Bowman of Liberty County, who is Black, told reporters that the deputies didn't know that the bus was carrying students from a historically Black university before they entered the vehicle, nor did the sheriff's office realize the incident had been perceived as racial profiling. |
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